Friday, January 25, 2008

What a fantastically marvelous time we live in; hundreds of architects vie for their 15 minuites of fame every day.

This onslaught leaves some of us bewildered -- developing effective ways to break through the deluge and rise to famousness. I, however, see this as an incredible moment. Since accomplishing this feat has become more difficult over the years, many architects do not even bother to make a serious effort, or worse yet, they do not do it at all.

With this tremendous moment comes a massive responsibility. When a brand concept gets through the clutter, the architect must not only uphold it at every contact with his customers, but it must also surpass that promise -- every time, by every image, by every method, by every system. Indeed, if a positive brand impression is not made at every contact, the odds of the architect's concept effectively getting through to that prospect again are greatly diminished, and what was an advantage becomes a more-difficult-than-ever undertaking.

Using bright colors, retro futuristic fonts and icons reminesent of atari & space invaders, they create a clear & upbeat brand impression concept. The message comes through in every aspect of how they present themselves visually. The impression resonates from large buildigs right down to the little icons on their website. Look at how consistent the iconography and colors are:

illustrations

web design

modelsdrawingsvideos

AttireCheck out the iconography on the T-Shirt

Give thought to every way you and your company come into contact with your prospects and customers. Do you wow them, or are you just like everyone one else? Think about the Brand Impression Opportunities (BIOs) that you have, the ones you can create, and how you can turn them from mere possibilities into positive interactions -- interactions that reverberate with your customers ... interactions that are memorable experiences ... interactions that make such an impression that your customers willingly and spontaneously tell others about you.

If you’re closer to your goal, keep going! Refine your process, eliminate unnecessary steps, but keep doing what you’re doing! If the actions you’ve taken have put you further from your desired result, change them!

After you’ve gone for it, though, you need to…

Look at your results

Or, as Tony Robbins puts it, “notice your result”. If your goal is to get to Paris from Australia, heading south doesn’t quite cut it, does it? Examine the results of your actions, then…

Adjust Your approach.

Just look at these two masters at work: Frank & Hillary. Hillary is not an architect but you'll get the idea alright.

Frank Gehry Knew what he wanted to be famous for: designing buildings

Starting off as a mildly successful architect but with limited commissions he knew that course was not going to lead him to fame. So he

Took action

by designing furniture constructed from laminated cardboard. He was able to experiment and be creative in ways that he could not afford to do in his architecture practice. His Easy Edges line of chairs, was featured in national magazine spreads, and the Los Angeles architect experienced an unexpected notoriety.

He was getting famous for sure, but not for designing buildings but for designing chairs. His actions were taking him closer to his goal but off target.

he looked at his results and adjusted his approached.

He soon withdrew the Easy Edge chairs from production, fearing that his popularity as a furniture designer would detract from his reputation as an architect.

Then we have Hillary Clinton. She wanted to be famousfor being President of the United States.

She took action

Officially launched her campaign, raised money, wooed voters, and quickly became the national front runner in the democratic party. She saw that effort all but wiped away when her rival Senator Barak Obama won the Iowa Caucus and polls show him leading the New Hampshire primary. She took further action by attacking him publicly, questioning his experience and his main message "hope" and it made things worse; Her poll ratings went down even further in the double digits. She was becoming famous for being cold calculationg.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

In the previous post we discussed making a clear goal and making it very specific. So now you know where your target is. But in order to hit it, you have to…

Take Action

Having a specific goal is all well and good, but it’s not enough. In order to achieve your goals, or get what you want, you have to take action toward their achievement. Massive action! If you want something, go after it! Don’t paddle around. Go for it with a vengeance!

Waiting for a train to goor a bus to come, or a plane to goor the mail to come, or the rain to goor the phone to ring, or the snow to snowor waiting around for a Yes or Noor waiting for their hair to grow.

Everyone is just waiting.

Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kiteor waiting around for Friday nightor waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jakeor a pot to boil, or a Better Breakor a string of pearls, or a pair of pantsor a wig with curls, or Another Chance.

Everyone is just waiting.

No! That’s not for you!

If you cant take it from Dr Seuss, take it from Melissa Jenna

By Carol DeWenn,Staff writerNOTES ON BECOMING A FAMOUS ARCHITECTFreeing Minds Since August 2007

Friday, January 4, 2008

As an experiment and in keeping in the spirit of New Year's wises, we are conducting an experiment in goal setting (wishes with deadlines). Much of what you will find here is based on "The Ultimate Success Formula" popularized by success coach Anthony Robbins. This is a simple sequence of actions for achieving a goal. They are as follows:

Know what you want

Take action toward it

Examine the results of your action

Adjust your approach

Over the next four weeks, starting today, we are challenging you to set a goal and follow through with these steps. You probably wont be famous in 4 weeks but don't be discouraged. You will probably be in better shape for the years to come. This week begins with the first step:

Know What You Want

Before you take off on your journey, you have to know where you want to end up.

What kind of results do you want?

You’ll find that the less wishy-washy you are about your destination, the better your chance of arriving there. You can’t just say things like, “I want to be a better”, “I want a nicer glasses”, “I want more exposure”, “I want a cool mystique”, or “I want to be a famous Architect”.

No, you have to be specific. “I want a Robert Marc custom design glasses”, or “I want my inside-outside house to be published in Metropolis Magazine”.

If you don’t have a good target, how can you possibly know when you’ve hit it?

Here is a list of some things You could be famous for:

For writing books, essays or poems?Kenneth Frampton

For winning a competition?Maya Lin

For interdisciplinary work & cultural criticism?Diller + Scofidio

For evolving an old philosophy?TadaoAndo (minimalism)

For teachingWalter Gropius

For drawing & sketching?Lebbeus Woods

For your distinctive style of work?ZahaHadid

For a designing a master piece?JørnUtzon

For being part of a radical groupArchigram

For an invention or developing a system.Buckminster Fuller

By Carol DeWenn,Staff writerNOTES ON BECOMING A FAMOUS ARCHITECTFreeing Minds Since August 2007